Crisis hasn't stopped Russian pig investments

The financial crisis only seems to have postponed pig investments in Russia. This could be concluded on this year's edition of the annual Kombikorma exhibition for grain and feed, which took place in Moscow, Russia, 2-5 February.

With 285 exhibitors coming from 22 countries from all over the world, the Kombikorma exhibition was a good place to measure the impact of the crisis which affected Russia in 2009 as many other countries. The crisis has not stopped the wave of investments forecasted or in process, but it has only postponed them.

For many exhibitors in Moscow, the crisis is over and for some it is just like it did not exist at all. Almost all feed or premix producers forecast to build new plants somewhere in Russia in 2010 in order to answer to the growing demand of the market.

Size
"The size of the investments being done in pigs is huge with 10,000 sows and 150,000 pigs," says Mikhail Shkatov, pig specialist for Koudijs Mkorma, the distributor of Dutch animal nutrition company De Heus in Russia. Last year, the company bought a premix company in Vladimir region.

In 2010, the Russian poultry production is expected to grow by 300,000 tonnes and, according to Tigran Papazyan, director of Alltech, Russia will be soon self-sufficient in poultry meat and is even able to become net exporter at a short term. It remains to be seen if Russian pork will follow that same path. (Philippe Caldier)

For the detailed growth statistics from Russia and for a review of Kombikorma, please check the upcoming issues of Pig Progress or All About Feed.